Wukong's Journey
by platypusgale
Summary: When the monkey king realizes he's in a slump, can the most secretive champion in the league give him some good advice?
1. Wukong's Problems

He sat in the dust left from the match that had just ended. He won. He should be happy, right? Then why wasn't he? Wukong sat in the middle of the lane, staring at the slowly regenerating turrets. He had hoped to find a challenge. This is not what he had expected.

When he arrived at the Institute of War, he was welcomed with open arms. His teacher and inside voucher, Master Yi, had a reputation of taking only the best, so the summoners and his fellow champions decided to give him a chance. He did well in his early games, but then people started to play harder.

At about his tenth match, Wukong realized that the enemy Garen was dominating his teammates in the upper lane of summoners rift. He decided to go around the river and gank. But, although his team had destroyed every ward ten minutes earlier, it seemed that Garen was expecting him. As Wukong dove from the bush, Garen flashed out of reach, turned on his heel, and flipped towards him, killing him instantly.

Then, during this last match, he was ganked the young Annie. Wukong figured that he could take the little pipsqueak of a champion, Ezreal, who was laning against him. He dove forward and started spinning. He thought that he was going to get his kill, when a burning sensation overtook him. He turned, and standing directly in front of him was a giant, flaming bear. It must have been twice the size of Wukong. The bear swung its massive paw in his direction, and Wukong was knocked on his butt. Annie, such an adorable little girl, walked up to Wukong and looked down on him, her face empty of all emotion. His last words to her before being burned to death were "You aren't very cute when you're mad, you know that?"

He kicked up the dust in front of him with his staff. Why was he so bad? Did he forget a technique? Was he doing something wrong? He was startled out of his contemplation by a tap on the shoulder. He turned around, and there stood the demon girl herself, carrying her terrifying stuffed bear. "Hey mister," she said, "you're really good when you play."

"Thank you, young one. You are much more powerful on the battlefield than I assumed you were as well."

"Why are you sitting all alone?"

"You wouldn't understand."

"That doesn't mean you can't tell me! Please?"

"Alright. Well, you see, I thought I was one of the best in the league. I was happy. But then I started to look awful compared to other champions. For example, our little fiasco in bottom lane today. I didn't stand a chance."

"Come with me and tibbers, mister," Annie said, her voice suddenly stern, wise. Older than it should sound. Wukong followed, curious to know what could make such a little girl act so old.

They walked back to the institute, and they walked all the way through, to the chamber that held the demon fiddlesticks. They stepped in front of the window, and stared at the glowing green slits that stared back through the darkness. When Wukong looked away, Annie had disappeared. He looked back at fiddlesticks, but the slits were no longer slits. The sentient scarecrow had walked into the light, and Wukong could see his true form out of battle. He heard a hiss, but there was no one in within 500 yards of the Monkey King, other than the scarecrow on the other side of the glass. He heard a voice talking, raspy, as if it hadn't been used in a long time.

"I can see your fear. I can help."


	2. The Introduction

Wukong was nervous. He wasn't sure what was going to happen. He couldn't see anything. He didn't know what was happening. He went in to the seemingly lit room holding the harbinger of doom, and the door closed. The lights turned off. It was pitch black. He couldn't see anything, but he felt hundreds of eyes on him.

Wukong looked up. Instead of the blackness he expected, he was met with a billion blood red dots, staring directly at him. He squealed, reduced to his old self. He couldn't remember how to talk. Suddenly, a new pair of eyes appeared in front of him. They were different. They were bigger. They were bright yellow, almost gold. Fiddlesticks.

"Ca-ca-can you turn on the lights, please?" Wukong was obviously terrified.

The scarecrow chuckled. At least, Wukong was pretty sure it was a chuckle. The lights did come on though, and when Wukong looked up, he saw that the hosts of those eyes on the ceiling were the harbingers crows. Wukong felt a lot better. He was ready to talk to Fiddlesticks.

"How can you help me get better again?" Wukong was a bit more confident now.

"I am the most feared 'champion' in this League that I was so unceremoniously dragged into. Do I look scary? I'm a scarecrow." A look of realization dawned on Wukong. Fiddlesticks continued. "I had to build a reputation. I must convince others to fear me. You must do the same."

"So what, you're going to train me?" Wukong was confused.

"No," Fiddlesticks replied without emotion. He simply stated it, as if he were a robot. "I'm going to show you others that I've helped, and they will show you the way, along with me."

Wukong was nervous again. _Crap, _he thought. _Who else has he helped? Did he help Annie? This might be embarrassing._ "I don't know, isn't that a little odd?"

"Do you want my help or not?" Fiddlesticks was getting aggravated. Wukong nodded silently, not too eager to make the scarecrow angry. "Then you will do what I tell you, when I tell you, how I tell you, without questioning me."

"Y-y-yes sir. I promise not to argue with you anymore. I'm ready." Wukong was visibly shaking. He couldn't get out of that room faster.

"Then lets go meet some students of mine. First, Nocturne." Fiddlesticks made to leave.

Suddenly, Wukong felt pretty relaxed in the crows room. But he went anyway, absolutely terrified of what fiddlesticks could do to him if he got more annoyed.


	3. Negotiations

Nocturne hovered in his cage, bored by the emptiness. He had nothing to do. No one to scare. Nobody to kill. He sighed. _What do you do in a magic cage that doesn't let you do anything? _He looked at the door without emotion, as if he could show emotion anyway, he was a shadow, when the crease of light on the wall widened into a large square. Two silhouettes stood in the doorway. One was familiar, one was new to him. "Fiddlesticks." Nocturne hissed the name. Not with anger, just factual.

"What do you want with me, scarecrow?" The shadow seemed genuinely curious, although he still spoke monotonously.

"I want you to vouch for me, my shapeless friend. This... is Wukong. The monkey king. He needs to build a reputation."

_So that's who that is. I never liked him. Arrogant. _"I can tell you this now, monkey. Arrogance is only for those who deserve it. Creatures like you shouldn't be arrogant."

The monkey whimpered and stepped back. Nocturne chuckled. He knew how to mess with creatures when they stepped into the room. Their auras told the shadow who they were.

"Help me or I swear to you I will send the crows at your cage. I will drain you to within an inch of your life." Fiddlesticks eyes were now a glowing, furious red, similar to that of his crows, but much more ominous. You knew he was angry when you saw him. He radiated hatred. Wukong started to back towards the door. It slammed shut, and as the scarecrow lit the room with a torch, Wukong was revealed to be having a staring contest with one of the scariest looking crows you will ever see. It was the size of the monkey kings head, and it watched, no, stared at Wukong with its blood-red dots it called eyes. Wukong was sure he wanted to kill the monkey.

Nocturne hesitated and then nodded. What else was he going to do? He had nothing to do in the cage, and a little conversation, no matter how unpleasant, was worth being left alone. "Fine," he hissed. "What do you want?"

"I want to recruit you." Fiddlesticks spoke nonchalantly, as if it meant nothing at all that he wanted to 'recruit' the most fearsome creature in all of the league of legends. "You have a powerful reputation. I want you to train my monkey friend here how to build his own."

Nocturne contemplated. What was he to do? He could tell them to leave, but he would lose fiddlesticks as an ally. Or he could waste his freedom on a monkey. _It might be worth it. What else am I to do all day? At least this passes time._ "Fine. Deal. I'll help your fleshbag monkey friend in exchange for two hours of freedom every day." He can negotiate, at least. He wanted something out of this.

"Very well." Fiddlesticks cackled. "We'll see you in a few days. Come along, Wukong. We're going to see our friend Tryndamere!"


End file.
